After Severus
by Chromaggia
Summary: Lily has just told Snape she doesn't want to be friends anymore, and is just trying to get back to the common room when she runs into James. You might not get it if you haven't read Snape's flashback in Deathly Hallows.


**A/N: Okay, so this takes place right after that flashback in Deathly Hallows that Snape gives to Harry- it's the one where he and Lily talk in the corridor really late at night and Lily tells him that she doesn't want to be his friend anymore. I've heard a lot of people talk about how they don't see how James and Lily got together instead of Lily and Snape. One of the main arguments that they use is that James was a jerk. So I decided to write this oneshot to show Lily observing an inkling of some sort of soul in James, to understand what she sees in him, in a way.**

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Lily Evans fought off tears as she made her way down the corridor. She had just lost one of her dear friends, and while she had been wanting to cut off all ties with him for a while, it was still difficult. After all, Severus was the one who had told her about magic, the one who had accompanied her throughout the transition from Muggle life to wizarding life. Had he seen her as a Mudblood the entire time? Or maybe his disgusting vermin friends had put the ideas into his head. Whatever the situation was, Lily did not want to try understanding it. Prejudice was prejudice, and if Severus was too weak not to fall into its trap, then he was just as parasitic as the rest of his friends.

But it still hurt.

She stalked off through the hallway, meaning to get to the Gryffindor Common Room. _That should have been the first sign._ She mused, keeping her head lowered. _He was placed into Slytherin. But of course no one bothered to tell me that the Slytherins end up as Death Eaters- Voldemort was a Slytherin. But then I had to go on being open-minded, neglecting my own prejudice. God, I'm such a hypocrite right now._She hated herself for it, feeling the unfamiliar feeling surge through her as she turned a corner. Prejudice was bad, but only when it was not in her favor? She decided she could argue that her discriminatory thoughts about Slytherin were not as unfounded than the Muggle-borns-are-horrible mindset, but did logic excuse hatred of things she knew little about? If this was not about her own personal views, she would have said that no, it wasn't a good excuse. And yet her feelings about Slytherin felt right to her, and she could not stop the shiver that always ran down her spine when she saw the snake emblem on someone's cloak. As she walked past a Transfiguration classroom, she could not dismiss the feeling of pride and belonging that came when she saw a new student be sorted into the Gryffindor house, which was often followed by a surge of relief that someone wasn't sorted into Slytherin. But wasn't that how Death Eaters felt, in a way? Was there ever a Muggle-born in Slytherin anyway?

All of this was too much for a late night. Lily had a feeling that her thoughts wouldn't make any sense if they were spoken, so she tried not to think about the issue as she approached and walked up a staircase. "Out after hours, are we, Miss Evans?" A voice asked her, much to her surprise. She hadn't seen anyone on the stairs, nor had she heard any footsteps. She looked toward the source of the voice, relieved to see that it was not a person of authority, but one of the portraits. She could not imagine the damper it would have put on her evening if she had to deal with the loss of Severus and detention all in one night. She gave the painting a glare and continued on her way. "Such behavior is not forgiven easily!" It called after her. "I demand an apology at once! I saw how you looked at me! Mischief, I say!"

At the volume of its voice, Lily broke into a run. Someone was sure to hear its screams, and besides, the portraits had always creeped her out. Only after making three left turns at the ends of the hallways did she rest. Taking deep and heavy breaths, she leaned against a wall and sat down. It was still a bit of a walk to the common room- Severus had chosen the meeting spot to be closer to the dungeons than any non-Slytherin would have preferred. Yet another sign of his selfishness- or was it selfish of her to want a meeting spot that was near her own room? More importantly, why was she focusing on the location of their meeting, of all things?

She did not have much time to reflect on this, because she heard footsteps coming from the stairs. An almost inaudible meow told Lily that it was Mr. Filch, and that the portrait she had previously encountered would almost certainly give away her location. At that realization, she began to hate her luck. "_The girl seemed to be headed toward that out-of-order bathroom, Mister Filch!_" She heard. "_I would assume she wanted a place to hide after I noticed she was breaking rules!_" More footsteps, and Lily began to run again.

She found herself going in a random pattern of hallways she had never seen before, and hoped that Filch would not catch her trail. And yet she could not stop hearing the footsteps behind her, growing closer and closer with each step. It was a wonder he wasn't calling out her name by now, because he seemed to be right behind her. Lily's lungs burned, and she gasped for air with each step. She was sure she couldn't run another foot, and yet she continued until she found herself almost at the end of the hallway. Finally, when she almost began to see gray spots clouding her vision, she stopped.

Someone crashed into her almost instantly.

Lily fell down, holding back the scream of mixed pain and shock that had welled up in her throat. Well, this was fantastic. A lost friend, detention, and bruises that were sure to show up tomorrow. However, when she looked behind her she didn't see anyone.

_Oh, God, don't tell me I imagined this._ She thought to herself. It was impossible. _This happened. _Someone had bumped into her. She had the soreness in her knees to prove it. And it was impossible that Filch could have run away from her so quickly- he was both old and he never missed an opportunity to punish children. So who had run into her? She stood up, shaking, and she saw a head emerge out of thin air.

_What?_ She thought. The head was followed by a torso, arms, and a body in general. To Lily's annoyance, it was James Potter. "Oh, no." She said, sighing. "It's you. Dear God. What are you here for?"

James was holding a cloak as he said, "I was running from that git, Filch. What are _you_ here for?" He winced, stretching his arms to check if they had been injured in any dire way.

Lily was still fuming as she said, "The same. Why couldn't I see you?"

For a moment, James looked confused, as if he was asking, _You couldn't see me?_ Realization dawned on him as he replied, "What? Oh. Yeah. I, uh..." He held out the cloak. "I was wearing this. Kinda forgot... it makes you invisible." He covered his hand with it and, lo and behold, it disappeared as if it had never been there to begin with.

Lily looked in fascination, temporarily forgetting that the both of them were being chased by an angry old man and his cat. "That's so weird." She commented. "Does it... does it hurt?" She asked, slightly embarrassed that such a thing should worry her.

"Nah, it doesn't hurt." James shrugged, tossing it over his shoulder, making the entire right side of his torso disappear. "You're still _there_, it's just other people can't see you. Neither can... well, I'm not sure if animals can. I'd assume not, but you never know."

"Ah..." Lily nodded in comprehension, almost wincing at the sight of what looked like the boy severing parts of his own body. "So, why were you out in the middle of the night?"

"Bugging Peeves. You?"

Lily sighed as she remembered why she had been annoyed to see James in the first place, why she had disliked him. "Talking to Severus Snape."

James snickered for a moment. "You're still friends with that git?" He asked. "After he called you a Mudbood and all?" He sobered and added, "Y'know, he's becoming a Death Eater. I'd watch out for him if I-"

"Yeah, well, I just became _not_-friends with him because of that very reason, which was brought up because of something _you_ caused, Potter." Lily snapped. "If you and your friends hadn't done that jinx to him, he wouldn't have used that word... we might still be friends."

"Even though he hates the fact that you've got Muggle family?" James asked calmly. "He was a git from the first day." He began to imitate him, saying, "'Oh, Slytherins are destined for greatness.' 'Oh, those stupid Mudbloods and blood traitors are all out to get me!' 'Oh, shampoo! Get it away!'"

Lily snickered, but slapped Jame's invisible shoulder, knocking the cloak off of it. "Why do you call everyone gits? Can't you be nice for once?"

"Because it's true!" James insisted, picking up the cloak. "If people weren't being gits, I wouldn't have to call them gits. Besides, Severus hasn't washed his hair since he was nine!"

"Yeah, and when was the last time you decided to just leave him alone?" Lily asked, no longer finding the situation funny.

"I'd say the last time he wasn't trying to get _you_ to hate _your _Muggle family." James retorted.

Lily thought about this for a minute. Severus had talked about what he called "The Pureblood way" a lot. At times he even suggested that Lily lie about her parentage by telling people he was the distant cousin of Fenrir Greyback, a budding Death Eater who she thoroughly detested.

They heard footsteps, and James put on the cloack instinctively.

"Stupid lil' kids... like to go wanderin' around the halls at midnight, do ya?" Filch's voice seemed distant, but threatening all the same.

"James?" Lily whispered urgently. Maybe he had snuck away. The thought both angered her and scared her.

"Right here." The voice came from in front of her.

Lily took all the time she had (which was about two seconds) to consider the options. Try running and be heard, or...

"I have to get under that cloak." She said.

"You have to what?" James asked. Lily could tell he was laughing, and almost regretted her decision.

She sighed and placed her hand in front of her, where she was able to feel soft fabric. She lifted it up, revealing the face of the cloak's owner. "Think I'll fit?" She asked softly.

"I've been under here with Remus _and_ Sirius. You'll be fine." James assured as Lily took a deep breath and moved in next to him.

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**A/N: I might continue this, essentially just to the two of them arriving at the common room. What do you think?**


End file.
